divine angst

Raffi Melkonian mentions (from a forwarded request by Jeremy) that one way to eat cheap (presumably while a student) is to eat sandwiches. (Well, really, to make one’s one lunch, but that generally involves sandwiches.)

This is where I mention my love-hate relationship with sandwiches.

When I was in elementary/middle/high school, I took my lunch every single day. Not only was the cafeteria lunch at my school absolutely disgusting, it was also pretty darn expensive. (To wit: $3.50 for poorly made Frito Pie in 1991? No wonder my mom insisted I make my lunch.)

So every night, I’d fix up a bag of food. Every night, I included the same stuff: an apple, a bag of chips, and a sandwich. Usually the sandwich would be wheat bread, a thin layer of mayo, and a few slices of whatever lunchmeat Mom had bought—sometimes turkey, sometimes ham, sometimes roast beef. I could have added lettuce if I wanted but since I was making my own lunch, I was often too lazy for the extra effort. So, boring sandwiches were my standard fare. (I got so lazy towards the end of my senior year that I started leaving off the mayo and just throwing a few slices of meat between dry bread.)

And that’s how I began to hate sandwiches.

Once I was in college, I avoided sandwiches in the dining hall. I ate at the salad bar instead, or grabbed chicken fingers from the pub or, more commonly, ate cereal for lunch. (I love cereal and will gladly eat it three times a day. I did that for about three weeks one year in college. Happy times.)

After college, I refused to make a sandwich if I was taking my lunch to work. Oh, I’d still buy a sandwich from Subway or Quiznos, but I wouldn’t make my own. Of course, I OD’d on Subway about two and a half years ago (too many $3 veggie subs) and now I can’t even really bring myself to order a sandwich from a sandwich shop.

It sounds, basically, like I just plain hate sandwiches, right?

Well, no. I actually like sandwiches most of the time. I just can never remember that when it comes time to make one.

This afternoon, though, I had a craving for a BLT. We have some nice turkey bacon in the fridge, some fresh tomatoes and lettuce, and I just bought a beautiful avocado. So I made us both BLTs.

And they were good. I’m reminded that I love toasty bread with mayo, where the mayo gets just slightly warm. I love a sandwich with just enough filling and not too much bread (this is the problem with the veggie Subway, too much bread and not enough filling). I enjoy the mix of flavors when you add just the right extra ingredient to your sandwich: salad greens instead of lettuce, olive oil and fresh cracked pepper if the bread will stand up to it, roasted red peppers, and so forth.

Sammiches are goodness. I’m still years away from wanting to eat a sandwich for every lunch again (or, rather, being willing to do so), but I think I’m starting to come back around.